1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to healing of wounds and wound-treatment therapies. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to systems and methods for improving the connection between a wound dressing and negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) apparatuses and methods.
2. Background Information
Clinical studies and practice have shown that providing a reduced pressure in proximity to a tissue site augments and accelerates the growth of new tissue at the tissue site. The applications of this phenomenon are numerous, but application of reduced pressure has been particularly successful in treating wounds. This treatment (frequently referred to in the medical community as “negative pressure wound therapy,” “reduced pressure therapy,” or “vacuum therapy”) provides a number of benefits, including faster healing and increased formulation of granulation tissue. Typically, reduced pressure is applied to tissue through a wound insert (e.g., a porous pad or other manifold device). The wound insert typically contains cells or pores that are capable of distributing reduced pressure to the tissue and channeling fluids that are drawn from the tissue. The wound insert can be incorporated into a wound dressing having other components that facilitate treatment, such as, for example, a drape (e.g., adhesive surgical drape). Instillation of fluids (e.g., irrigation fluids and/or medicaments) may be used in conjunction with negative pressure wound therapy to promote healing and/or improve efficacy.
While NPWT has been highly successful in the promotion of wound closure, healing many wounds previously thought largely untreatable, some difficulty remains. One common component of an NPWT system is a device or structure (e.g., connection pad) that connects the vacuum (or negative pressure) source (e.g., a vacuum pump) and/or the fluid source to a wound dressing or components (e.g., foam wound insert within the wound dressing).
It may be difficult to accurately characterize the pressure level at the tissue site by simply measuring the level of reduced pressure that the reduced pressure source is providing, either at the source or in the conduit lines connecting the source to the wound dressing. Fluid flow within the primary lumen of tubing associated with NPWT systems may prevent pressure level measurements at the apparatus (e.g., vacuum source) from accurately indicating the level or stability of the pressure at the wound itself.
While NPWT has been used for some time, NPWT wound dressings, and their connection to NPWT apparatuses can be difficult to use and time consuming to apply (e.g., due at least in part to the number of connections which must be made between wound dressings and connection pads, and between connection pads and conduits to the NPWT apparatus).